Diet of free-ranging domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) in rural Zimbabwe: implications for wild scavengers on the periphery of wildlife reserves
Diet of free-ranging domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) in rural Zimbabwe: implications for wild scavengers on the periphery of wildlife reserves
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DOI：
10.1017/s136794300200104x
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发表时间：
2002-02-01
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
du Toit, JT
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Butler, JRA;du Toit, JT
在津巴布韦的公共土地（农牧农村地区），自由放养的狗（Canis familiaris）的数量达到了前所未有的水平。本研究探讨了狗和野生食腐动物的边界Gokwe公有土地（GCL）和Sengwa野生动物研究区（SWRA）在1995年至1996年之间的潜在竞争相互作用。饮食研究表明，狗主要是人类废物和动物尸体的清道夫。12具实验尸体表明，狗是脊椎动物清道夫行会中最成功的物种，消耗了600个可用生物量并发现了66.7%的尸体。狗垄断了GCL内家畜腐肉的供应，但也消耗野生腐肉达1公里内的SWRA，并看到3公里内的保护区。它们的主要竞争对手是秃鹫，其次是狮子（Panthera leo）、豹（P. pardus）和斑点鬣狗（Crocuta crocuta）。狗在野生动物保护区的边界上胜过秃鹫，因为它们的密度高，夜间和白天活动，身体优势和对人类干扰的更大容忍度。随着每年6.5%的人口增长率，狗的影响将在保护区周边加剧，加剧了它们对野生食腐动物的现有威胁。这种情况可能正在许多其他非洲国家发生。
Numbers of free-ranging dogs (Canis familiaris) have reached unprecedented levels in Zimbabwean communal lands (agropastoralist rural areas). This study examined the potential competitive interactions between dogs and wild scavengers on the boundary of Gokwe Communal Land (GCL) and the Sengwa Wildlife Research Area (SWRA) in 1995-96. Dietary studies showed that dogs were primarily scavengers of human waste and animal carcasses. Twelve experimental carcasses indicated that dogs were the most successful species in the vertebrate scavenger guild, consuming 600 of available biomass and finding 66.7% of carcasses. Dogs monopolized the supply of domestic animal carrion within GCL, but also consumed wild carrion up to 1 km within the SWRA, and were seen 3 km inside the reserve. Their principal competitors fur carcasses were vultures, and to a lesser degree lions (Panthera leo), leopards (P. pardus) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta). Dogs outcompete vultures on wildlife reserve boundaries owing to their high densities, nocturnal and diurnal activity, physical dominance and greater tolerance of human disturbance. With a population growth rate of 6.5% per annum the influence of dogs will intensify on the peripheries of reserves, exacerbating their existing threat to wild scavengers. This scenario is probably occurring in many other African countries.